India’s Last Foxtrot-class Sub Vagli Laid To Rest

[Indian Navy Statement] The Indian Navy decommissioned one of her oldest units, INS Vagli in a solemn ceremony at the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam today, 09 Dec 10. The Commissioning Commanding Officer of INS Vagli, Captain (Retd) Lalit Talwar was the Chief Guest on the occasion. He along with the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral Anup Singh witnessed the lowering of the National Flag and the Naval Ensign for the last time. To mark the completion of her services, a paying off pennant was lowered after sunset to the soul stirring Last Post sounded by the Naval Band. The Commanding Officer, Commander Ajay Bhatia thereafter ceremonially reported to the FOC-in-C Admiral Anup Singh that INS Vagli was decommissioned. Several dignitaries from all over India, including the crew who originally manned her at her commissioning in 1974 arrived at Visakhapatnam to attend the Ceremony.

INS Vagli, a Foxtrot class submarine Type 641B, was commissioned by then Lieutenant Commander Lalit Talwar on 10 Aug 1974 at Riga, Latvia, in the erstwhile Soviet Union. She was the first of the ‘Vela’ class of submarines to be commissioned into the Indian Navy. INS Vagli has completed 36 years of dedicated service under 23 Commanding Officers and is probably the oldest submarine of its class in the world and definitely the oldest unit in the Indian Navy. The submarine has in her operational life participated in almost all major tactical exercises off both the sea boards and elsewhere. The first submarine to be based at Mumbai, Vagli later shifted base port to Visakhapatnam in 1993. Despite being the oldest unit in commission in the Indian Navy, Vagli continued to serve with distinction. Even in its last Operational cycle she completed 137 days at sea and 1232 dived hours. That the Indian Navy was able to operate a boat of this vintage so effectively also bears testimony to the dedication and skills of generations of maintainers and operators.

Anonymous

QUOTE:Its three screws made it noisier than most Western designs. Moreover, the Foxtrot class was one of the last designs introduced before the adoption of the teardrop hull, which offered much better underwater performance. The Foxtrot class was completely obsolete by the time the last submarine was launched. The Russian Navy retired its last Foxtrots between 1995 and 2000

Its a vintage platform good for muesuem or target practic for our new sub rockets recently developed. The third option is to scrap it.

Anonymous

@9:45oyee INS VIKRAMADITYA can be considered new cause of the reburfishment infact it was never used much and is bing reburfished…also u dont get aircraft carriers for 2 billion$ a single USS NIMITZ will cost u 4 billion$ beat tht……..Aditya

Anonymous

Beautiful boat. A relic of 1960s cold war era. India must collaborate with France, Germany and Russia to build completely new subs from the scratch. In today's world, technological knowhow is even more potent than actually possessing weapons system.

Shubham

I think the induction of atleast 4 arihant class N-submarines by 2015 as is planned and soon enough the Nerpa class submarine which is due on lease would more than offset the capability loss as a result of the de-commissioning of these obsolete but yet venerable foxtrot class submarines. That said and done..we should be grateful to the services rendered by these submarines over the years. Hope better defence procurement policies and planning ensure that there is no scenario in which we are playing catch up with our adversaries but leading the game, a laughable thought given the sad state of affairs especially with regard to submarines of IN at the moment. Lets hope the upgradation of Kilo class subs in Russia, induction of the 4 arihant class n-subs by 2015, the 6 scorpene class subs (with AIP propulsion, as is being discussed now by 2018)and also the Nerpa sub, alongwith a second line of conventional subs being planned lead to a more lethal submarine force, and lets not forget that we are also building long range submarine launched ballistic missiles,which without a doubt will improve the lethality of the submarine force. Jai Hind!

Anonymous

Keeping a sub fit for a museum operational this long is a true testiment to the Indian Navy's maintainence and dedication of the crew. Sub's structurally degrade much more quickly than surface vessels. Anyway the Indian sub stable is very low on numbers and needs to be doubled by 2015. I can't see how this is done unless manufacture of the second-line of subs (in addition to the Scorpenes) is opened up to the private sector and some more Russian acquisitions (Oscars????) are made.